Jackson SL3 alittle dark sounding, upgrade Pickups to what?

[mantis]

Hello,
I have a 2005 SL3 and in the neck position there is a Hot rail Duncan pickup. I have been thinking my amp is dark on the clean channel due to the overal tone i get. Well my Guitar Teacher has a American Standard Strat with a Vintage single coil noiseless pickup in his neck position and the sound quality is very clear and brighter. Compared to my Jackson on the same amp, his sounds much brighter and clearer. I was wondering if there is a good replacement pickup I could use to brighten up my tone in just that position? I saw that Semour Duncan makes Cool Rails which would keep the same apearence as my Hot rails but do they sound brighter? More alive?

I need some help here.

Dan

[Davey]

yep, the cool rails sound brighter and more open.

[mantis]

I think I'm gonna try one. Thanks

Dan

[toejam]

The Cool Rails sound more like a PAF humbucker.

[JACKSONFREAK]

Try the duncan vintage staggered stack. Its a single coil pup with another coil below it to cancel the hum. They sound great with a JB andare clear and bright like a single coil should be. At least to my ears anyway.
Gil

[DonP]

This might sound like a stupid question, but if you like the tone of your teacher's axe, why not get the same pickup as him?

[mantis]

This might sound like a stupid question, but if you like the tone of your teacher's axe, why not get the same pickup as him?

I thought about that. He uses the Fender Classic Pickups noiseless. He even offered to install it if I wanted 2. I would also have to replace the middle position pickup as well for it to look right. I don't know even if that matters but I like it to look correct.

The hot rails are doing better now that I own a Sonic Maximizer by BBE. It really made a difference in my clean as well as my Drive tone. I'm also thinking that buying a Strat wouldn't be a bad Idea.Changing pickups on my Jackson is probably going to happen soon. I need to find the right pickup that sound good with my amp. I didn't have any problems with clean on my fender.

Dan